THE man who was injured when he went to help Yio Chu Kang member of parliament Seng Han Thong during a fiery attack last month is recovering well at home.

Yesterday, Chu Sheng Temple chairman Aw Chui Seng, 69, made his first public comments about the attack on Mr Seng, 59, at a community event.

In an interview with the Chinese evening newspaper Lianhe Wanbao, he had harsh words for netizens who gloated about the attack on Mr Seng.

Calling them 'inhuman', he said: 'You can have different opinions but you cannot be extreme.

'Some of these netizens are highly educated, but they know only how to attack people...making such comments may just result in more harm.'

He urged them to refrain from making irresponsible comments, and instead focus on making constructive suggestions, such as how to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Mr Aw was seated at a table of more than 10 with the MP when a man ran up behind Mr Seng, doused him with paint thinner and set him alight.

Recalling what happened next, Mr Aw said: 'My first instinct was to try to put out the fire with my hands.

'But little did I know that some of the thinner would splash on me. Before I knew it, I was also on fire. All I could do was roll on the ground to try and put out the flames.'

In the process, he suffered burns to his arms, fingers, neck, chest and right shoulder.

Mr Seng suffered burns over almost 15per cent of his body.

Both men rode to the hospital in the same ambulance, and Mr Aw recalled marvelling at Mr Seng's stoicism then.

He said the MP did not complain, but instead asked about his wounds.

Mr Aw said: 'When I asked him how he was, he just said, 'It's okay, I can still take it'.'

Mr Aw was discharged from hospital last month after undergoing a skin graft operation. Doctors say he will take at least a year to recover fully from his wounds.

He must undergo daily physiotherapy to prevent the grafted skin from becoming stiff.

He also needs to wear pressure garments to protect his chest wounds and prevent the scarring from becoming too thick.

But Mr Aw said his wounds could not compare to those suffered by Mr Seng.

He said: 'I visited him on Thursday, and he was happy to see that I was recovering. But when I saw how badly wounded he was, I did not even know how to comfort him.'

Mr Seng is currently recovering in the Singapore General Hospital's Burns Unit.